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Ch. XIV.]
the Emperor Napoleon.
163

remembered that such a phenomenon as thunder[1] was never heard, nor had lightning ever been seen since the discovery of St. Helena, that idea was abandoned. Thunder and lightning have never been known to disturb the harmony of the climate. To account for this, it is said that the electric fluid is attracted by a high and conical-shaped mountain, called Diana's Peak, and conducted by it into the sea. I was too much alarmed after the occurrence of the earthquake to go to bed for many nights.

Seeing me one day unusually low-spirited, Napoleon inquired what could possibly have happened to drive away the dimples from my usually riant face. "Has any one run away with a favourite proté da bal, or is the pet black nurse, old Sarah, dead! What can have occurred?" I told him it

  1. ↑ It is mentioned in Brooks's History of St. Helena, there had been two shocks of earthquakes in the island during the years 1756 and 1782.
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